The career of a Dual Wielder - LIVEAdditional contributors (in order of appearance ):
Duke, r0tt3nj4ck, valshaq, Zukero, rijackson741 and you?

I've recently started a second character: Linkus, and based on my experiences that I could gain with my main char (Link), I'd like to give some advise to new players.

However, BEWARE, this post is FULL OF SPOILERS!
Many new players find it hard to survive the first few levels, here is the solution:

Once woken up in your father's house, you are "rewarded" with the quest to find your brother. Fair enough, he's your older brother after all - maybe a jerk who bit you back in the days while fighting through the garden, but nevertheless your brother. Deal with it!

Even though it might have brought along some valuable side effects, being the smaller brother: having been protected by your father from your stronger brother, having been spoiled by numerous aunts and uncles throughout the village, it has one hell of a major drawback: YOU ARE NOT MUCH STRONGER THAN A FLY.

That mentioned, your task at hand is a matter of impossibility... one might think. But heeey, we've entered the beautiful world of a Role Playing Game, where you can grow your player (in fact, yourself!!!) into a humongous monster slaying beast. (Side note:Dungeon Keeper is a fantastic game with changed positions, YOU are the baddie!!!).
Now this set up in turn, provides you with one heck of a chance: grinding, tedious, never ending grinding, the one skill that is not available in the skill list, but actually needs to be present in your cortex even before installation.

Okay, get to the point Link... yeah yeah, I just wanted to spit out some thoughts about RPGs in general. This one being a magnificent example. But okay, right to the details:

Description of level 1 - 10:

First things first: Get the best equipment available for the money you have (Side note:There is some more (12G) in the little basket at the south-eastern corner of the house). I advise to buy the Iron Axe for 1G, as it provides some sweet damage at a rate of just above nothing. Furthermore, buy the cheapest shield, some garment and anything else that Audir has to offer and that you can afford.
Once done with that, solve the first two quest given by your father, the bread and the rats in the garden thingum. Side note:Take a look into your inventory, there are already some nice items, especially the ring. The first quests combined with some first mob kills should already push you towards level 2. Well done, adventurer!

As soon as you're done with the bread quest, you can solve the missing husband quest (yet another amazing 50exp) and get the rat cave quest from the guy in the top north-east corner of the village. Solving it, means a first round of grinding. We love it, don't we?!! But well equipped as we are, it shouldn't be much trouble to run in the cave, kill as many mobs as you can before you die and get back into your bed asap. You're a little baby boy after all. At least for the moment. Do that until you can kill the big bad monster rat in the far, dark and fearsome corner to the top left. Side note:Save as often as you can, and rather reload than start over from the bed, as it costs you too many exp - it might prove worth while to save before every single fight!!! While doing so, you should sell everything you find in that cave and buy better equipment at Audir's.

You should be able to kill the big bad rat around level fourish. At the time you reach level four, you'll be rewarded with your first skill point. DON'T WASTE IT!!! but rather wait until you've reached level 5 and spend it on: Increasing Fortitude, as this skill will provide you with an extra HP-point on every level up - some heretic players even think it's over powered. My advise: Ignore them and take it anyway!
During the level ups until level five, you should never ever waste your given bonuses on HP. Increased Fortitude will eventually provide everything you'll ever need in this game. Instead, you should go for a healthy mix between the other three: Attack chance (AC) and Block Chance (BC) have priority over Attack Damage (AD) - at least at this point.

Once you've cleared Crossglen of all available quests, enter the great, wide world of AT and meet the puppies!!!
Puppies are going to be your best friends throughout the next levels, but especially in terms of money. Why? Because more than often they drop meat and meat sells for 25GP and thus is the single best source of money at this point in the game. Thus your mission is, I know it sounds cruel: Become a puppy slayer!!! ...yeah, I know, this is amazingly cruel, but it works

So but what do you do with all you newly gained riches?
Simple: Buy better equipment!!! "Yeah, but which, smarty", you might rightfully ask. Don't worry, young padawan, I'll tell you and here is where the real trick starts:
Within the starting area, the mobs do not deal much more damage than between 1-2, criticals around 3. Now for somebody that has not much more than 25 HP, this is already quite a lot, which is also the reason why it is so hard to start and to survive the first levels. BUT there is one amazing piece of equipment available in the city of Fallhaven (right next to Crossglen to the east), right at the Tailor's shop, the: Hardened leather shirt!
Yes, this piece of equipment is quite expensive, it will cost you the unimaginable amount of 1,878 GP, but it is well worth the investment. Why? Simply because it offers you one point of damage resistance (aside of 5% block chance)! Translated: It renders you nearly invulnerable towards many of the mobs around the area. Perfect for levelling and grinding purposes!!!

But that shirt ain't all you'll need. Another really important item is, of course, your weapon. And my prime advise here, is to get hold of a Hardened Iron Longsword, at Audir's in Crossglen. The major advantage of this sword in comparison to your previous axe is that it only requires 5 attack points, opposite to 6 with the axe, while having only 10 AP available at this point in the game. This translates into the amazing advantage of having TWO attacks per fighting round, rather than only one. This means nothing less than DOUBLING your damage capacity.
And the best about it, it comes relatively cheap for only: 416GP, which shouldn't be a problem with regard to your newly gained "Puppy slaying capacities".

But obviously there is still more and it all builds on "Puppy Slaying", ergo money making... now where do we know that from?!? Oh yeah, real life. Me dummy.

Let's make it short. A list of items you should get while reaching level 10:

ADVISE: Get hold of each item as soon as you can afford it, as it makes you stronger the moment you wear it!
In the end, it all breaks down on your puppy slaying capacities, meaning: Being the biggest baddie around. Deal with it... many people don't in daily real life, so you shouldn't virtually, even though it's cruel.

Now once you've gotten hold of all these items, the final grinding area for the next levels will feel easy: Irogotu's Cave, right in front of the western entrance to Fallhaven!
In the cave, you will find an extremely thankful exp-victim: Yellow Cave Ants (28exp). They only deal 1 point damage, which you will be immune to by wearing the hardened leather shirt. And more thankful victims: Young Teeth Critters (24exp) and Teeth Critters (38exp), which normally also only deal 1 point damage. Careful though, the latter can deal critical hits dealing up to 3 damage, which translates into 2 damage points when wearing the shirt.
The only bigger threat in this cave are the minotaurs, they can deliver critical blows of up to 12 points (11 with shirt). But nevertheless, they are great targets (SAVE BEFORE ATTACK!!!), as they grand 64exp (young) and 79exp (strong).
And at the very end of this cave, you can even finally beat Irogotu himself and get hold of your first necklace.

Skill point distribution:

First (at level 4) - save up until level 5 and spent it on Increasing Fortitude
Second (at level 8) - spend it on what ever you feel like, I recommend Fast Learner, as it improves your level grinding efforts early on

First point at level 4 - SAVE IT UP and spent it on Increased Fortitude available at level 5

Second Point at level 8 - I used it on Quick Learner - as it will start early on to give you an extra 5% Exp. Once you've reached your first million points, 50.000 exp will come from this decision alone

Level 7-12: Fallen Friends - From Jan in the wild west of Fallhaven (1.500Exp) CAREFUL: Irogotu can be tough, as he has 9DR. Make sure you deal enough damage yourself.

Grinding areas until level 10:

For the very start, just hop in and out of the rat cave behind your father's house. Simple. Mind that your father's house, with YOUR BED, is right around the corner. Make good use of it!

As soon as you feel strong enough (about level 4) you should farm some puppies for meat north east of Crossglen and towards Fallhaven. You mean money making puppy slayer!!!

But the perfect grinding area for this level range is Irogotu's cave in front of the western entrance to Fallhaven. The bed in the tavern is close by as in order to refresh yourself whenever needed. On the way from and to the cave you find use for your newly attained "Puppy Slaying Capacities". Inside the cave, provided you are equipped with a Hardened Leather Shirt, which gives you +1 damage resistance, you shouldn't find too much hardship. The mobs give decent Exp, drop some nice items to sell as well as gold in fair amounts.

A serious alternative to Irogotu's Cave is the Snake Cave. This holds especially true, if you're still in need of money as the snakes drop meat. The drawback, is the lower amount of experience points over the points you can get in Irogotu's Cave. And a little warning about the deepest cave: The snake trainers you will encounter there, are definitely still too strong for a player below level 10. Their master, however, drops a nice little dagger.

If that doesn't help, I don't know what, but this is of course open for improvements and suggestions.

Now this phase is real fun, as it includes many cool quests. The drawback of quests is the time spent on running around, but okay that's the way it is. HINT: Kill everything on your paths to keep up the spirit and levelling.
During this phase we will be able to lay our hands on some extremely nice equipment, which, unfortunately, means a lot of puppy/snake slaying again. But believe me, it is really worth it!!! And if you follow this guide, it will reduce your future investments tremendously.
But let's get down to business:

Levels 10-12 you should still stay in the area around Fallhaven and continue grinding for levels and money, until you are able to kill Vacor/Unzel (about level 10) and Irogotu (about level 12), and have all your equipment sorted. You'll need it for what comes next!

You first path should lead you south-eastwards to Vilegard. This comes relatively natural, as you have a quest that directs you in this direction anyway: A Lost Potion. But forget it for the moment.
Once arrived in Vilegard, you'll find a very suspicious population that is not willing to sell you any equipment or even talk to you. The latter is a real bummer, as they have a hell of a lot of really sweet stuff in stock for you. And the solution lays in talking to Jalnor, the village's priest in the church. He appoint you with the task to gain his and the villagers confidence. This quest is only the first in a long row of subquests: "Trusting an Outsider", subquests: "Uncertain Cause" (given by Wyre), "Kaori's Errands" (given by Kaori) and "Spies in the Foam".
Among those three quests "Kaori's Errands" is the easiest and thus your first to take on. If you have followed this walkthrough, you'll already have done "Disallowed Substance" from Leonid in Crossglen. Therefore, getting the 10 bonemeal potions for Kaori should be a piece of cake... well, apart of the painful price of 520GP, which all of us would rather have invested into gear. But hey, all that puppy slaying cruelness must have been good for at least something, right?!!
The next quest is most likely "Uncertain Cause" from Wyre. Unfortunately, this quests involves some seriously tough enemies for a character around level 12, therefore, skip it for the moment. There are plenty of other quests at hand.

Those quests will finally make you travel that tempting big road into the unknown north, the Duleian Road! Starting right north from Vilegard, from the Foaming Flask, follow the road until you finally reach the crossroads and Carn Tower in its middle. Here, you'll find another bunch of nice little quests. Start off with "Cheap Cuts" given by Benbyr on the left of the tower. BEWARE THOUGH, DO NOT fulfil his task right away. If you'll do, you miss out on gaining exp for another task, when you can get both . The whole thing is a bit evil, but do we really care when it comes to exp? Exactly: NOOOOooo, we don't.
Benbyr asks you to kill a number of sheep as to revenge some foul business he once had with Tinlyn, the, meanwhile, local shepard. Tinlyn in turn, has another quest for you that you can only fulfil if you don't kill his sheep: "Lost Sheep". Therefore, take Tinlyn's quest and fulfil it before you return to the sheep to kill them off. This way, you get both exp rewards. Evil, I told you!

These quests should be followed by picking up another quest inside the tower: "Feygard Errands" given by Gandoren, the local captain of the guard. After taking up the quest from him talk to Ailshara in the same room who gives a nice twist to this quest. How you solve it in the end, is really up to you. Personally, I prefer the way of the shadow. But please make up your own mind about this.
In case you like the way of the shadow, you need to solve the Jolnor's quest from Vilegard first.
Before to leave the area though, there is a another quest in yet another village, Loneford, that you can solve easily: "Flows through the Veins". You can pick up the quest at Carn Tower and straight walk north-east through the fields to Loneford. The only thing you need to do is to ask around a little within the village. No fighting no nothing, but an amazing 15.000exp are awaiting you. Go for it!!!
Since you're already in Loveford and are not likely to come back too soon to this depressing village, don't forget to pick up a "Strong Wooden Tower Shild" with Siola. Yeah I know, he looks like Lord Death himself with his sickle, but the shield is great anyway.

Done with that, walk down the Duleian Road south again. On the way you might consider turning west into the forst just north of Fallhaven (map wise). There you'll find a mini village of outcasts that have only one thing in their minds: Getting drunk. Well, fair enough, you can certainly help with that, right?!! The quest is named: "Sweet sweet Rat Poison". The only difficulty might be to get to the village in the first place, as it is heavily guarded by wolves and wild foxes, but at this moment in the game it shouldn't be much trouble for the aspiring adventurer.
Finally arrived, meet Two-Teeth in the southern house in the back corner to get the quest. Get him that awfully stinky rat poison from his favourite dealer Lowyna in the local pub and your done. Easily earned 500exp.

Done with that you might find yourself still a little too weak for the quests at hand. Consider some more grinding in this case, otherwise, or differently speaking, if you have reached about level 14-15, you should be strong enough to complete Wyre's quest. For this purpose walk west along the road south of Fallhaven until you reach a little clearing with a hatch to the north of the road. Enter it, fight your way through and talk to Oluag on the clearing at the other side. Once done, return to Wyre and finsish the quest back in Vilegard.

Report back to Jolnor and get his third and final quest in order to gain the village's trust: "Spies in the Foam". Solving the quest is rather easy and offers two possibilities: Either you talk the guard into leaving his station or you simply kill him. Choose what ever you like better. Hint: Killing him shouldn't be difficult and gives a little more exp. Really cruel though!
Done, return to Jolnor with the ring in your bloody hands and report back. Finally, you'll be rewarded with the trust of the village and it's well worth it, as they have plenty of really cool equipment on offer. A short list of the most interesting items:

Jolnor: 4.306G Ring of the Protector

Vilegard Armorer: 168G Leather Cap

Vilegard Smith: 1.060G Fencing Blade

But wait until you spent money on those items, there are better ones right at hand. The only thing you need to do, is to finish the quest "Feygard Errands", which now is easily done in the "correct" way. Might as well be the only correct way, as you depend on the good will of Ailshara, the member of the thief's guild at Carn Tower. In order to do so, visit the smith in Vilegard and hand him the swords given to you by Gandoren. The smith will give you 10 deteriorated swords in exchange with which you can finish the quest in the Foaming Flask. Do so and return to Carn Tower. Report back to Gandoren, get you exp reward and report back to Ailshara, which will in turn open her/his(?) treasure box of sweetest equpiment. Again, a short list of the highlights:

Darn.
This is the last place holder and just yesterday I reached level 50. Unfortunately, I did so while grinding for that God forsaken RoLS that dropped only after killing 7990 Gargoyle Trainers and 7608 Masters. It was a true nightmare.

Great starting out advice and nicely worded.
There are lots of ideas on gear, and I suggest different gloves: Gloves of Better Grip, Ganos Fallhaven Tavern, 147GP; only 40 more GP, but gives 9AC and 1BC, which is a total of 4 more combined than Bar Brawler's, but AC is so important early and it is almost double.
Also, possibly a different ring: Tavern's brawler's Ring, Ganos, 359GP; or Ring of Dmg +2, both about 100 more GP, but can give up to two more dmg. Also, I think getting the hat and a shield last and getting the other equipment first is important.
Just my thoughts, please feel free to ignore, but it seemed open to suggestions.